Summer goodness - chard,squash and tomatoes

The better the ingredients, the less you have to work on making them taste good. Picked fresh from the garden today, I ate sautéed chard, sautéed summer squash with onions and green beans, a quick tomato salad and some salmon from the grill, topped with a caramelized slice of pineapple.

Thank God for foodie friends - yesterday, while puttering around the house painting, cleaning and writing (since I'm riddled with something akin to ADD, these activities happen in five minutes spurts) I realized I had not eaten a "proper" meal in several days. Busy baking for BBD #32, I made too many rolls and, cheap as I am, I refused to throw any of them away. So my breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty much consisted of rolls: with cheese, with hagelslag, with fried egg.....but I'm not complaining! As the eternal bread junkie that I am, I could eat bread every day, but having taught nutrition classes for several years, I also know that bread alone does not a meal make.

So I called my dear friend Luke, my fellow food friend from West Virginia, and asked for ideas. I had some salmon in the freezer that needed to be eaten and Luke came up with this brilliant idea: salmon and pineapple. Hmmm...............didn't sound too appetizing to me, but I know better than to question his suggestions so I pulled open a can of pineapple slices, put the salmon in a foil jacket with some herbs, pineapple on top and on the grill they went.

My garden, albeit reluctantly (this has been my worst growing year yet!), let me have some chard, zucchini, green beans and tomatoes so I was able to use those as a veg. No starch this time, but two slices of homebaked bread on the side. Told ya, this girl can't eat without bread!

There is really no wrong way of doing this: slice your veg, throw a little bit of olive oil or butter in a pan, add onions, caramelize on medium heat and throw in the vegetables. When the vegetables are translucent and a little bit soft to the touch, they're done unless you want them well done. During the last couple of minutes, chop up a garlic clove or two and add them to the vegetables. Nothing worse than burnt garlic so I usually save them for last.

The salmon was wrapped in foil and grilled on a medium heat barbeque grill. Leave on for about fifteen minutes, open the package to see if the fish is done (it will flake easily and be tender to the touch). If so, leave the package open so some of the juices can evaporate. If the fish is not done, close the package back up and cook for another ten minutes.